A secret cable from the U.S. ambassador in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) underscored the perilous position of some pro-American Arab leaders dealing with terrorist infiltrators, rumors of Israeli hit squads and populations suspicious of Western motives.
President Obama is quietly but strategically stepping up his outreach to Africa, using this year to increase his engagement with a continent that is personally meaningful to him and important to U.S. interests.
With just two days left, delegates to the annual U.N. climate conference haggled and cajoled into the night in search of compromise on a raft of issues, including whether industrial nations should generate $100 billion a year, or up to $600 billion, to help poorer countries cope with global warming.
Zimbabwean strongman Robert Mugabe will "cling to power" for as long as possible, and a popular revolt against him would result in a bloodbath, according to a former U.S. ambassador to the southern African nation that Mr. Mugabe has ruined through disastrous economic and racial policies since 1980.
Human rights activists on Thursday called for an urgent investigation into the high death rate of babies in communities resettled by Zimbabwe's government after a widely condemned slum clearance drive.
The United States launched a program in Zimbabwe Wednesday to encourage HIV testing, with the U.S. ambassador, local musicians, broadcast personalities and soccer stars taking tests to mark the occasion.
That leaked cable traffic between U.S. embassies in the Middle East and the government in Washington, which has officials in a dozen capitals all atwitter, so far only confirms what everyone who reads newspapers already knows:
Are the Haitian victims of cholera "collateral damage" caused by inaction? More than 1,000 Haitians have already been killed and nearly a quarter-million more could contract cholera over the next several months.
Roman Catholic believers and leaders in parts of the world most stricken by AIDS drew hope from Pope Benedict XVI's recent comments on condoms, even if the Vatican took pains to explain that nothing has changed about its policy on contraception.
